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GOD  GLORIFIED  IN  HIS  SERVANTS. 

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DISCOURSE 


COMMEMORATIVE  OF  THE  LIFE  AND  LABORS 

OF  TI1E 


REV.  ADONIRAM  JUDSON,  D.D., 


Specially  as  a Ccanslatoc  of  tfje  Scvlptuves. 


DELIVERED  AX  THE  REQUEST  OF  THE 


BOARD  OF  MANAGERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  AND  FOREIGN  BIBLE  SOCIETY,  IN 
TUE  TABERNACLE  BAPTIST  CHURCH,  SECOND  AVENUE,  NEW- 
YORK,  ON  SUNDAY  EVENING,  MAY  11,  1851. 


BY  RUFUS  BABCOCK. 


PUBLISHED  BY  DIRECTION  OF  THE  BOARD, 

BY  EDWARD  H.  FLETCHER,  141  NASSAU  STREET. 

185  1. 


t 


CHRONOLOGICAL  MEMORANDA  OF  DR  JUDSON. 


Adoniram  Judson  was  born  at  MaldeD,  Massachusetts,  9th  August,  1788.  Graduated 
at  Brown  University  1807,  and  at  Andover  Theological  Seminary  1810.  Visited  Eng- 
land with  reference  to  missionary  engagements  early  in  1811,  and  in  September  of  that 
year  was  accepted  as  a missionary,  by  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions.  Married  to  Miss  Ann  Hasseltine,  of  Bradford,  Massachusetts,  5th  February, 
1812.  Ordained  at  Salem,  Massachusetts,  the  following  day,  and  thence  sailed  for  Cal- 
cutta on  the  19th  of  that  month.  Arrived  18th  June. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson  were  baptized  on  a profession  of  their  faith  in  Calcutta,  Septem- 
ber, 1812.  Sailed  for  the  Isle  of  France  in  December.  Thence,  via  Madras,  they  reached 
Rangoon  in  July,  1813.  The  first  baptism  in  the  Burman  Empire  was  by  the  hands  of 
Dr.  Judson,  27th  June,  1819.  In  the  years  1824-’25-’26,  a grievous  imprisonment  of 
more  than  twenty  months  was  experienced  by  him.  The  24th  of  October,  1826,  Mrs. 
Ann  H.  Judson  died  at  Amherst,  in  British  Burmah. 

The  printing  of  the  first  New  Testament  in  Burmese  was  completed  in  1832.  The 
translation  of  the  entire  Bible  into  Burmese  was  completed  by  Dr.  Judson,  31st  Jan.,  1 834. 

In  April  of  the  same  year,  he  was  married  to  Mrs.  Sarah  Hall  Boardman,  at  Tavoy. 
She  died,  on  her  way  to  America,  at  St.  Helena,  and  was  buried  there,  September,  1845. 
Mr.  Judson,  with  three  motheiless  children,  arrived  at  Boston  in  October. 

Married  to  Miss  Emily  Chubbuck,  June,  1846  ; sailed  for  Burmah  in  July,  and  arrived 
in  December.  In  April,  1850,  he  embarked  for  the  I“le  of  Bourbon  for  his  health,  and 
died  the  12th  of  that  month.  Buried  at  sea,  lat,  18°  North,  long.  93®  East 


JOHN  A.  GRAY, 

PRINTER, 

*19  PULTON,  COR,  GOLD  8T. 


COMMEMORATIVE  DISCOURSE. 


GAL.  I.  24: 

’•THEY  GLORIFIED  GOD  IN  ME." 

Noble  was  the  sentiment,  and  intrepid  its  utterance  by 
Massillon,  at  the  funeral  of  the  Grand  Monarque,  Louis  XIV., 
whose  remains  had  been  carried  into  the  royal  chapel  thronged 
with  the  princes  and  nobility  of  France;  the  sound  of  the  dirge 
had  ceased  ; the  orator  arose  amid  all  the  pageantry  of  the  fune- 
ral obsequies,  and  stretching  forth  his  hand  to  the  coffined  dust, 
he  lifted  his  eyes  to  heaven  and  exclaimed : 

“God  only  is  great.” 

God  only  is  essentially  great ; and  man’s  greatness  will  be 
found  to  bear  a very  exact  proportion  to  his  relation  to  God. 
Man  is  great  in  goodness,  as  he  assimilates  to  the  Divine  image, 
is  filled  with  God,  and  delights  in  doing  or  suffering  His  will : 
great  in  evil,  as  he  opposes  God  and  seeks  a fearful  remove  from 
Him.  It  is  our  relation  to  God  then,  in  a peculiar,  emphatic  and 
most  comprehensive  sense,  which  marks  the  greatness  of  any  of 
our  race.  Meeting  this  evening  to  commemorate  one  who  was 
great  in  goodness,  and  good  in  greatness,  let  us,  as  his  humility 
would  dictate,  ascribe  to  the  true,  the  Divine  source,  the  ex- 
cellences wThich  in  him  were  developed.  God’s  special  high  en- 


4 


LIFE  AFTD  LABORS  OF 


dowment,  the  position  awarded  by  a mysterious,  wonder-work- 
ing Providence,  and  specially  the  renovating,  sanctifying,  re- 
straining grace  of  God,  made  Adoniram  Judson  what  we  may 
well  delight  to  contemplate, — what  millions  in  this  and  other 
lands  now  admire,  and  what  will  be  regarded  in  both  hemis- 
pheres with  livelier  and  more  absorbing  interest  for  generations 
to  come. 

With  a reverent,  grateful,  and  self-oblivious  spirit,  let  it  be 
ours  so  to  bear  the  torch-light  of  truth  in  these  investigations,  as 
shall  most  clearly  indicate  the  divine  revealings,  so  that  we  may 
glorify  God  in  His  servant. 

It  cannot  be  needful  to  retrace,  on  this  occasion,  the  minute 
outlines  of  his  eventful  life.  Familiar  as  household  words,  in  all 
our  more  intelligent  circles,  are  those  leading,  prominent  inci- 
dents, which  interlink  the  boundaries  of  his  earthly  course. 
Enough  of  these  will  spring  up  spontaneously  in  our  pathway 
to  illustrate  his  endowment,  his  position,  and  the  achievements 
which  by  the  grace  of  God  he  wrought. 

In  such  a view  as  it  is  now  proposed  to  take,  the  formal  distinc- 
tions between  nature,  providence  and  grace  are  unnecessary  ; for 
all  these  are  only  the  different  spheres  in  which  God  works,  and 
in  reality  they  are  interfused  with  each  other.  What  we  call 
nature,  when  predicated  of  the  endowment  of  a morally  account- 
able being,  has  no  little  of  the  prescience  and  grace  of  the  Al- 
mighty. His  providence  also  is  interpenetrated  with  grace,  so 
that  in  whatever  direction  we  turn  our  eyes,  the  devout  contem- 
plation is  filled  with  the  view  of  Him  who  worketh  all  in  all. 

In  the  allotments  of  our  heavenly  Father’s  wisdom,  Adoniram 
Judson  had  his  birth  and  parental  training  in  that  wide-embra- 
cing link  of  the  social  sphere,  the  family  of  a New  England  min- 
ister in  parochial  charge.  This  is  a somewhat  anomalous  posi- 
tion ; one  which  is  well  understood  to  give  conventional  equality, 
both  with  the  highest  and  the  humblest  classes,  in  a society  wdiere 
invidious  distinctions  of  this  kind  the  least  prevail.  This  was  not 


THE  REV.  ADONIRAM  JtTDSON,  D.D. 


5 


without  its  advantages  to  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  It  gave  him 
“ ample  space  and  verge  enougli  ” for  the  full  development  of  all 
his  powers.  A vain,  weak,  precocious  mind  would  be  specially 
liable  to  injury  from  such  a position  ; but  to  one  of  tbe  opposite 
character,  it  would  be  likely  to  minister  certain  advantages,  in 
giving  earlier,  freer  scope  and  exercise  to  powers  which  in  less 
favorable  situations  might  long  have  remained  dormant. 

Forty  or  fifty  years  since  it  was  more  common  than  at  present 
for  the  minister’s  children,  the  sons  more  particularly,  in  some 
way  to  have  secured  for  them  the  advantages  of  a liberal  educa- 
tion; especially  if  parental  partiality  could  discover  in  them  (and 
nothing  is  easier  or  more  natural)  the  germs  of  future  eminence. 
This  would  prove  either  a blessing  or  a curse,  both  to  the  child 
and  to  the  world,  according  as  the  judgment  was  correct  or 
otherwise.  Whatever  incidental  benefits  may  have  resulted  from 
it,  no  careful  observer  can  questiou  that  it  has  been  far  from  an 
unmixed  good.  These  sons  of  Levi,  one  or  more  of  them  from  a 
family,  have  been  assigned  to  the  clerical  office,  more  out  of  re- 
gard to  their  parentage  than  to  their  talents  or  their  graces,  in 
many  instances  to  the  no  small  detriment  of  the  cause  of  religion, 
and  even  to  the  sad  disadvantage  of  the  individual  himself  whom 
this  allotment  has  placed  in  a false  position. 

There  is  another  aspect  of  this  matter,  however,  which  indi- 
cates its  advantages  less  alloyed.  The  home  influence,  which  is 
ever  the  earliest  and  the  most  powerful,  was  likely  in  such  a 
family  to  give  prominence  to  intellectual  and  moral  worth, 
when  weighed  against  mere  material  acquisitions.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  imperfections  and  the  besetting  sins  of  the 
ministry  of  our  Puritan  fathers,  worldly-mindedness,  seeking  to 
secure  wealth,  has  not  been  generally  predominant.  Nor  is  it 
easy  to  say  how  much  all  the  tinge  and  shape  of  the  future 
life  have  in  numerous  instances  been  given  by  these  early  im- 
pressions. Had  young  Judson  passed  the  first  dozen  years  of 
life  beneath  the  roof  of  some  decent,  shrewd  worldling,  whose. 


6 


LIFE  AND  LABORS  OF 


very  soul  was  pervaded  by  the  hallucination  that  gain  is  godli- 
ness, or  the  chief  good,  who  can  calculate  the  divergence  of  his 
orbit  from  the  one  in  which  he  has  moved '?  The  intensity  and 
concentration  of  his  forces,  accompanied  with  keen,  far-reaching 
discerment,  might  then  have  secured  him  a place  among  the 
millionaires  of  the  commercial  world.  He  might  thus  have  vied 
with  the  Grays,  the  Girards,  the  Astors  of  our  land.  Or,  had  the 
kindlings  of  his  early  genius  been  fanned  by  the  breath  of  polit- 
ical fame,  his  was  a power  adequate  to  scale  its  loftiest  pinnacle. 
Had  martial  renown  beckoned  him  to  the  field  of  her  antagonism, 
to  win  a warrior’s  glory,  the  quickness,  vigor,  and  indomitable 
perseverance  of  his  nature  would  have  made  him  the  peer  of  the 
great  captains  of  the  age. 

Other  and  happier  inspirations  imbued  his  childhood.  The 
star  most  in  the  ascendant,  through  all  this  forming  period  of  his 
life,  would  probably  be  intellectual  eminence.  For  the  days  of 
chivalry  had  then  passed.  Monkisk  austerities,  the  incense- 
burning and  genuflexions,  the  rosaries  and  crucifixes,  the  cowls 
and  palliums  of  mediaeval  days,  never  had  the  prestige  of  honor- 
able renown  among  our  Pilgrim  sires.  Protestantism  was  then 
and  there  working  out  its  legitimate  results  of  an  intense  mental 
excitement.  The  minister’s  family,  with  all  its  associations,  was 
the  very  place  where  this  power  was  most  certain  to  manifest 
itself.  And  in  perfect  harmony  with  this  view,  was  the  early 
intellectual  distinction  of  Judson. 

How  much  natural  scenery,  together  with  the  associations  of 
the  spot  where  the  Pilgrims  first  settled,  nearly  two  hundred 
years  before,  may  also  have  contributed  to  form  high,  noble, 
romantic  purposes  in  his  youthful  mind,  it  is  not  easy  fully  to 
estimate.  Some  of  us  know  that  forty  years  afterward,  when 
Judson  came  back  to  his  native  land,  and  sat  down  in  the  home 
of  his  childhood,  he  fixed  himself  at  a favorite  window  overlook- 
ing the  harbor  and  the  lighthouse  of  Plymouth.  After  gazing 
on  these  objects  for  a long  time,  with  absorbing  interest  and 


THE  KEY.  ADONIUAM  JUDSON,  D.D. 


7 


manifest  emotion,  he  exclaimed  : “ This  is  the  most  natural 
scene  I have  looked  on  in  all  America.” 

While  he  was  a little  boy,  scarcely  higher  than  the  table,  the 
preceptor  of  his  preparatory  course  of  studies  has  assured  me, 
that  never  did  he  witness  with  such  joy,  pride,  wonder,  the 
attainments  of  any  other  pupil.  Impartial  fidelity  seems  also  to 
require  the  admission,  that  the  usual  infelicity  of  early  intellec- 
tual eminence  was  distinctly  noticeable  in  his  youthful  years. 
He  entered  the  University  with  a somewhat  overweening  com- 
placency in  his  own  powers  ; with  a conviction,  which  his  whole 
collegiate  course  indeed  justified,  that  if  he  willed  it,  the  highest 
academic  honors  were  within  his  reach ; that  if  he  chose,  all  his 
competitors  could  easily  be  distanced. 

With  such  powers,  and  such  increment  to  the  intensity  of  their 
action  by  surrounding  influences,  heaping  on  fuel  to  the  flames 
of  an  already  scorching  excitement,  how  great  would  have  been 
his  mercy  to  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  instructors  wise  to 
discern  the  idiosyncrasy  of  his  case,  kind,  faithful,  capable,  to 
undeceive  the  too  sanguine  and  self-complacent  estimate  which 
he  was  coming  habitually  to  place  upon  his  own  capacity.  Let 
it  not  be  forgotten  that  his  college  days  were  in  the  very  height  of 
the  wild-fire  delusion  of  infidelity,  spread  abroad  by  the  French 
Revolution,  the  atheism  of  which  had  so  widely  permeated  our 
own  land,  nor  left  even  the  institutions  of  learning,  presided  over 
though  they  were,  in  most  instances,  by  the  ministers  of  religion, 
unscathed  b}r  its  blighting  power.  It  was  but  a little  earlier  that 
President  Dwight  in  Yale  College  had  throttled  the  monster, 
theoretical  and  practical  skepticism,  and  turned  the  tide  in  that 
noble  institution,  which  for  a time  seemed  about  to  be  deluged 
by  the  vainglorious  contemners  of  divine  revelation.  How  price- 
less would  have  been  the  value  of  just  such  influences,  in  his  col- 
lege course,  on  the  subject  of  our  present  consideration. 

As  it  was,  he  left  the  halls  of  the  University,  bearing  its  highest 
honors,  and  bearing  too  a proud  and  almost  contemptuous  under- 


8 


LIFE  AXD  LABORS  OF 


valuing  of  the  gospel’s  power  to  humble,  to  purify,  and  thus  per- 
manently to  exalt  the  human  soul.  Nor  did  the  period  of  inter- 
mediate employment  as  an  instructor  of  youth  essentially  modify 
his  skeptical  views,  or  seem  to  prepare  the  way  for  his  future 
career.  But  the  time  of  God’s  special  and  merciful  interposition 
was  now  approaching.  He  was  setting  forth  on  a proposed  South- 
ern tour,  or  for  a permanent  residence  there,  perhaps  to  human 
appearances  as  unlikely  a subject  for  the  renewing  grace  of  God 
els  was  Saul  on  his  way  to  Damascus.  But  the  Lord,  whom  he 
knew  not  and  sought  not,  verified  the  marvellous  sovereignity 
and  condescension  of  His  own  promise:  “I  am  found  of  them 
that  sought  me  not.” 

Deeply  interesting  as  would  be  the  full  development  of  that 
great  change  which  here  commenced,  we  have  not  room  for  it,  and 
must  await  its  appearance  in  the  forthcoming  biography.  Could 
memory  be  safely  trusted,  we  might — as  from  his  own  lips  the 
casual  hints  have  been  heard — give  some  pencillings  of  the  gar- 
nered recollections  of  that  cherished  period  of  his  own  history, 
in  regard  to  which  he  may  or  may  not  have  left  more  fully  writ- 
ten memorials.  How  the  tenderness  of  a mother’s  tearful  adieus 
combined  with  the  recollections  of  a father’s  long-undervalued 
prayers,  and  both  were  so  plied  by  the  energies  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  that  his  infidel  fortress  began  to  seem  insecure.  Then  it 
shook  \*  ith  more  ominous  violence,  foretokening  the  overthrow 
and  ruin  of  those  whom  it  had  proffered  to  shelter.  W hen  he 
was  fully  aroused  to  examine  its  foundation,  deemed  so  im- 
pregnable, they  seem  enshrouded  in  mist.  He  grasps  for  the 
pillars  of  support,  but  shadowy  phantoms  only  mock  his  hope. 
Young  man  ! thy  father’s  prayer  at  that  morning  hour  of  parting, 
the  silent  tokens  of  thy  mother’s  holy  yearnings  of  soul,  return 
upon  thee,  meanwhile,  with  mightier  and  more  subduing  force. 
Thou  canst  not  bid  them  away,  tdl  their  benevolent  embassy  is 
accomplished. 

“I  will  know,  will  at  least  seek  to  know,  whether  Christ  or 


THE  REV.  ADONIltAM  JUDSON,  P.D. 


9 


Belial  have  the  right  to  control  me,”  was  his  mental  if  not  au- 
dible resolve. 

But  habitual,  long-cherished  infidelity  does  not  readily  relax 
its  hold  on  the  unrenewed  heart.  The  Spirit  was,  as  yet,  but 
just  opening  his  e3’es.  He  saw  more  and  more  clearly  the  weak- 
ness of  that  in  which  he  had  trusted,  while  the  unsubdued  and 
struggling  heart  was 

“Still  of  its  own  delusions  weakly  fond, 

And  from  forbidden  pleasures  loath  to  part. 

Though  shriukiug  oft  beneath  correction’s  keenest  smart.” 

A little  increase  of  mental  honesty  and  impartiality  showed 
him  how  obvious  was  the  disingenuousness  of  his  course  hitherto, 
in  tailing  for  granted  the  falsity  of  the  Christian  system,  while 
be  studied,  with  enamored  fondness  and  iteration,  the  vauntings, 
the  sneers,  and  quibbles  of  a sciolist  infidel  malignity,  set  in 
array  against  it.  Hence  arose  the  determination  to  repair  this 
injustice.  “I  will  now  treat  this  subject  fairly.  If  there  are 
valid  arguments  to  prove  the  Bible  true,  I will  thoroughly  know 
them.  And  that  I may  prosecute  this  investigation  under  favor- 
able circumstances,  I will  betake  me  to  the  men  set  apart  as 
guides  for  the  educated  in  the  development  of  the  gospel  system 
and  its  evidences.” 

What  a neophyte  was  this,  knocking  for  admission  at  the 
portals  of  the  earliest  of  our  Schools  of  the  Prophets  ! No  won- 
der that  the  Reverend  Doctors  who  guard  the  entrance  demur 
on  his  admission.  Will  he  not  poison  with  these  his  confessed 
doubts  the  minds  of  weaker  youth,  whom  they  are  striving  to 
prepare  for  watchmen  on  Zion’s  walls  ? Will  not  that  eager,  un- 
tamed spirit,  the  flashes  of  whose  eye  betoken  the  pent-up  fires 
within,  cause  them  personal  disquiet,  making  their  seat  more 
thorny  than  downy?  Who  can  doubt  that  God  guided  their 
decision  ? These  teachers  do  not  confer  with  selfish  temporiz- 
ings. Their  ease  and  timid  cautiousness  are  put  in  abeyance. 
They  know  that  the  foundation  on  which  they  are  building  is  of 
2 


10 


LIFE  AXD  LABORS  OF 


adamant-  They  can  afford  to  struggle  manfully  for  the  mastery, 
to  win  such  a trophy  for  Immanuel,  and  bring  such  spoils  to 
their  Master’s  feet. 

We  may  not  linger  on  those  scenes  of  most  absorbing  interest, 
upon  which  angels  no  doubt  looked  down  with  intense  concern ; 
where  to  the  human  view  truth  and  falsehood,  soul-liberty,  with 
the  life  everlasting,  or  degradation  and  the  woes  of  the  second 
death,  hung  trembling  in  the  scale.  God’s  hand  held  the  bal- 
ance, and  the  right  prevailed. 

Behold  him  now  a new  creature ! Old  things  have  passed 
away — all  is  new.  With  the  chief  of  earliest  apostles  to  the 
Gentiles,  he  cries  out,  £i  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?  ” 
To  him,  as  to  his  prototype,  it  was  soon  revealed,  “ Thou  art  a 
chosen  vessel  unto  me,  to  bear  my  name  before  kings  and 
nations  ; and  I will  show  thee  how  great  things  thou  must  suffer 
for  my  name’s  sake.” 

To  become  a missionary  to  the  heathen  was,  however,  a very 
different  matter  then  from  what,  in  a great  degree  by  his  heroic 
fidelity,  it  has  since  become.  It  is  no  unworthy  or  needless 
episode  in  this  commemorative  discourse  to  consider  what  in- 
fluences they  were  which  turned  him,  among  the  first,  and  as 
many  believe  decidedly  the  earliest  of  our  countrymen  to  the 
great  work  of  Asiatic  Christian  missions ; and  what  were  the 
adverse  influences  with  which  he  had  to  grapple, — the  impedi- 
ments to  remove,  the  hindrances  to  shake  off, — in  order  to  accept 
this  mission  work  as  the  indicated  sphere  of  duty,  in  which  God 
had  called  him  to  engage. 

To  our  minds,  in  this  day,  the  greater  marvel  may  be,  bow 
any  disciple  acknowledging  the  supreme  authority  of  the  Divine 
Saviour,  and  imbued  with  any  share  of  the  benevolence  which 
He  illustrated,  can  fail  to  feel  the  force  of  His  last  solemn  injunc- 
tion, Go  publish  the  glad  tidings  to  every'  creature.  But  as  an 
historical  fact,  it  is  well  known  that  a benumbing  apathy  long 
rested  on  the  household  of  faith,  and  century  after  century,  since 


THE  REV.  ADOXFUAM  Jl'DSOX,  D.D. 


11 


the  Protestant  Reformation,  had  passed  away  with  very  incon- 
siderable endeavors  (frequently  none  at  all)  to  carry  abroad 
among  heathen  nations  a knowledge  of  Christ  crucified.  The 
English  Baptists,  a score  of  years  earlier  than  the  period  we 
are  considering,  had  feebly  but  nobly  commenced  the  work  of 
modern  Protestant  missions  ; and  other  branches  of  the  Redeem- 
er’s followers  in  the  same  country  had  emulated  their  example, 
following  or  outstripping  their  career. 

But  up  to  this  time  it  seems  to  have  been  assumed  that  our 
voung  country,  pioneering  the  path  of  civilization  in  a rude  wil- 
derness, and  among  wild  barbarians,  had  work  more  than 
adequate  to  task  all  its  energies,  in  laying  the  foundations  of 
Christian  institutions  at  home,  and  in  endeavoring  to  bless  the 
savage  Indian  with  evangelical  instruction.  Very  doubtful  is  it 
whether  from  any  of  his  teachers,  or  of  the  venerable  pastors 
most  looked  up  to  for  counsel  and  influence,  Judson  had  ever  heard 
the  intimation  of  any  possible  duty  requiring  Christian  men  of 
this  country  to  cross  the  ocean  in  order  to  evangelize  other  lands. 
So  far  from  this  was  the  public  sentiment,  that  it  was  then  and 
years  later  very  common  for  such  men,  even  some  of  the  most 
distinguished  of  their  number,  to  ridicule  the  idea  of  evangelizing 
those  who  had  not  by  a precedent  civilization  become  fitted  to 
appreciate  and  welcome  Christianity. 

Moreover,  the  men  who  gave  tone  to  the  sentiments  of  the  com- 
munity, the  learned  reviews,  the  political,  literary,  and  reput- 
edly religious  journals  of  respectability  and  power,  joined  their 
opposition,  in  no  stinted  measure  or  guarded  terms,  to  the  feeble 
attempts  then  being  made  to  spread  the  gospel  in  India. 

The  oracular  Edinburgh  Review,  a little  previously  to  the  year 
we  are  now  considering,*  thus  discourses  on  the  motives  of  the 
missionaries  in  India,  and  the  tendency  of  their  labors : — 

“Upon  this  subject  they  are  quite  insane  and  ungovernable  : 
they  would  deliberately,  piously,  and  conscientiously  expose  our 


* In  1808. 


12 


LIFE  AND  LABORS  OF 


whole  Eastern  empire  to  destruction,  for  the  sake  of  converting 
half-a-dozen  Brahmins,  who,  after  stuffing  themselves  with  rum 
and  rice,  and  borrowing  money  from  the  missionaries,  would 
run  away  and  cover  the  gftspel  and  its  professors  with  every 
species  of  impious  ridicule  and  abuse.  * * 

“Suppose  we  were  to  be  driven  out  of  India  to-morrow,  and 
to  leave  behind  us  twenty  thousand  converted  Hindoos,  it  is 
most  probable  they  would  relaspe  into  heathenism  ; but  their 
original  station  in  society  could  not  be  regained.  The  duty  of 
making  converts,  therefore,  among  such  a people,  as  it  arises 
from  the  general  duty  of  benevolence,  is  less  strong  than  it  would 
be  in  many  other  cases  ; because,  situated  as  we  are,  it  is  quite 
certain  we  shall  expose  them  to  a great  deal  of  misery,  and  not 
quite  certain  that  we  shall  do  them  any  future  good.  * * * 

“Whoever  has  seen  much  of  Hindoo  Christians  must  have  per- 
ceived, that  the  man  who  bears  that  name  is  very  commonly 
nothing  more  than  a drunken  reprobate,  who  conceives  himself 
at  liberty  to  eat  and  drink  any  thing  he  pleases,  and  annexes 
hardly  any  other  meaning  to  the  name  of  Christianity.  Such 
sort  of  converts  swell  the  list  of  names,  and  gratify  the  puerile 
pride  of  a missionary.  * * * 

“ Why  are  we  to  send  out  little  detachments  of  maniacs,  the 
lowest  of  the  people,  to  spread  over  these  fine  regions  of  the 
world  the  most  unjust  and  contemptible  opinion  of  the  gospel? 
The  wise  and  rational  part  of  the  Christian  ministry  [ihe  writer 
of  this  diatribe  of  misrepresentation  and  malignity  being  one  of 
them]  find  they  have  enough  to  do  at  home,  to  combat  with  pas- 
sions unfavorable  to  human  happiness,  and  to  make  men  act  up 
to  their  professions.  But  if  a tinker  is  a devout  man,  he  infalli- 
bly sets  of!'  for  the  East.  Let  any  man  read  the  Anabaptist 
Missions.  [The  papers  drawn  up  by  Dr.  Carey,  and  published 
by  Andrew  Fuller  and  his  associates,  are  here  alluded  to.] 
Can  he  do  so  without  deeming  such  men  pernicious  and  extrava- 
gant in  their  own  country,  and  without  feeling  that  they  are 
benefiting  us  much  more  by  their  absence  than  the  Hindoos  by 
their  advice  ? * # * 

“ Shortly  stated,  then,  our  argument  is  this  : We  see  not  the 
slightest  prospect  of  success  ; we  see  much  danger  in  making 
the  attempt;  and  we  doubt  if  the  conversion  of  the  Hindoos 
would  ever  be  more  than  nominal.  The  instruments  employed 
for  these  purposes  are  calculated  to  bring  ridicule  and  disgrace 
upon  the  gospel  ; and  in  the  discretion  of  those  at  home,  whom 
we  consider  as  their  patrons,  we  have  not  the  smallest  reliance.” 

These  are  but  a specimen  of  the  more  decent  outpourings  of 
this  dignified  quarterly,  little  more  than  forty  years  ago.  We 


TIIE  REV.  ADONIRAM  jri'SOX,  III). 


13 


will  not  pollute  our  pages  nor  pain  your  ears  with  the  Billings- 
gate utterances  of  a coarser  and  less  delicate  character,  from 
the  same  and  kindred  sources.  Enough  may  here  he  seen  to 
indicate  the  nature  of  the  missionary  enterprise,  as  it  was  then 
regarded. 

To  this  maligned  object  the  attention  of  Judson  was  turned. 
He  read  and  pondered  Buchanan’s  Star  in  the  East.  He  felt,  as 
a redeemed  sinner  should  feel,  the  immensity  of  his  personal 
obligation  to  his  Divine  Saviour,  who  had  just  plucked  him  as  a 
brand  from  the  burning.  Incidentally,  the  acknowledgment  has 
been  drawn  from  him,  that  “one  day  as  I retired  to  a grove  in 
the  rear  of  the  Andover  Seminary,  for  meditation  and  prayer, 
and  the  urgency  of  this  great  question  was  pressing  on  my  soul, 
How  shall  I knmv  the  path  of  my  duty  ? the  Saviour  in  unwonted 
and  enrapturing  loveliness  revealed  himself.  1 was  willing,  yea, 
ardently  desirous  to  yield  myself  entirely  to  llis  will.  With 
constraining  power  His  words  came  to  my  heart  anew,  Go 

TEACH  AH,  NATIONS.” 

Nor  w as  he  disobedient  to  the  heavenly  mandate.  His  de- 
votement  appears  to  have  been  considerate,  prayerful,  entire, 
and  final.  Neither  was  it  to  be  expected  that  one  so  obviously 
born  to  lead  would  take  such  a step  alone.  Other  hearts  catch 
the  holy  fire,  (some  of  them,  indeed,  having  quite  independently, 
and  still  earlier  than  his  own,  been  impressed  with  this  great 
theme,)  and  on  the  memorable  10th  of  June,  1810,  a modest  but 
remarkable  document,  written  by  his  hand,  and  signed  by  him- 
self and  three  associates,  gives  to  their  fathers  in  the  churches 
of  Christ  the  first  official  oiler  of  themselves  on  the  altar  of  Mis- 
sions to  the  Heathen. 

So  had  God  directed,  that  this  overture  was  addressed  to  the 
very  body  of  men,  of  all  others  in  our  land,  probaoly  the  best 
fitted  at  that  time,  by  intelligence,  piety,  zeal,  and  influence,  to 
take  the  initiative  in  such  a work.  Nor  was  it  without  a divine, 
benignant  purpose,  that  while  these  ecclesiastical  fathers  of 


14 


LIFE  A^D  LABORS  OF 


New-England  were  deliberating,  Judson  was  sent  to  England  to 
confer  with  the  managers  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  and 
on  the  way  was  detained  some  months  a prisoner  in  France. 

He  at  length  returns,  and  with  four  others  is  set  apart  by 
solemn  ordination  to  such  a work  as  young  America  had  not 
before  attempted.  The  impulse  which  this  heroic  act  had  given 
to  missionary  benevolence,  the  willing  offerings  which  were  cast 
into  its  treasury,  the  prayers  breathed  forth  so  warmly  and 
widely  for  its  success,  have  strengthened  his  own  and  his  asso- 
ciates’ assurance  that  God’s  favor  was  upon  it ; and  the  little 
brig  Caravan  put  forth  from  Salem  harbor  on  that  wintry  day, 
bearing  hearts  of  pious  heroism  as  distinguished  as  those  which 
one  hundred  and  ninety-two  years  earlier  had  thronged  the 
Speedwell,  in  the  roadstead  of  Delf  haven. 

Wonderful  is  that  overruling  providence  of  God  which  in  a 
way  so  unexpected,  by  instrumentalities  so  unlikely,  can  gather 
fresh  increment  of  renown  to  His  great  name,  and  spread  bene- 
ficence so  widely  among  His  creatures,  from  sources  to  human 
• view  the  most  unpromising.  A numerous,  extensively  diffused 
Christian  commuuity  in  this  country,  little  distinguished  at  that 
day  for  the  general  prevalence  of  education,  even  in  its  ministry, 
without  wealth,  or  the  spirit  of  co-operation,  or  far-seeing  re- 
ligious enterprise,  it  was  now  the  good  pleasure  of  our  heavenly 
Father  to  allure  to  a participation  of  the  great  work  of  evan- 
gelizing the  nations  ; conferring  on  them  incidentally,  by  this 
very  effort,  a richer  blessing,  even  so  far  as  their  own  augmenta- 
tion and  improvement  are  concerned,  than  they  could  otherwise 
have  realized.  To  secure  this  beneficent  purpose,  how  simple 
and  direct  the  process.  The  good  Spirit  of  our  God,  which  each 
day  of  that  eventful  voyage  Judson  was  imploring  for  his  guide, 
breathed  into  his  mind  the  natural  and  the  fit  purpose  adequate- 
ly to  prepare  himself,  by  thorough  study  of  his  Greek  New  Tes- 
tament, to  meet  ai  d confute  the  ritual,  distinguishing  practice  of 
those  venerable  men  of  God,  the  humble  Serampore  missionaries. 


THE  EEV.  ADONLRAM  JT7DSOX,  D.D. 


15 


How  unforeseen  was  the  result!  Thus  many  a man  who  goes 
forth  with  the  spirit  of  a conqueror,  returns  vanquished.  The 
power  of  prejudice,  the  pride  of  consistency,  the  allurements  of 
most  endearing  associations, — what  are  they  all  when  weighed 
against  God’s  truth,  by  a heart  shrinkingly  susceptible  to  the 
sacredness  of  its  power ! Again  it  must  be  said  of  him  as  of 
Paul,  he  conferred  not  with  flesh  and  blood,  but  while  regarding, 
as  he  then  declared,  the  rupture  of  associations  incident  to  his 
change  of  views  as  the  most  distressing  event  which  had  ever 
befallen  him,  he  was  notwithstanding  promptly  obedient  to  the 
heavenly  vision.  The  evidence  which  passed  before  him  on 
this  subject  may  indeed  fail  to  impress  other  minds  equally. 
Enough  for  our  present  object  that  to  him  it  seemed  conclusive.* 

Without  at  all  seeking  either  to  magnify  or  undervalue  the 
points  of  difference  involved  in  this  change,  we  should  not  pass 
from  it  without  remarking  that  he  who  does  not  see  in  this 
transition  of  an  humble,  unportioned  young  man  from  the  ranks 
of  one  company  of  Christ’s  professed  followers  to  another,  with 
its  cohering  results,  something  higher,  nobler,  worthier,  and  of  • 
more  far-reaching  relevancy  to  God’s  cause,  than  the  petty  tri- 
umph or  discomfiture  of  a narrow-minded  sectarian  partisan  on 
either  side,  has  yet  to  open  his  eyes  more  widely,  if  he  would 
take  in  the  divinely-assigned  lesson  w7hich  is  here  taught  of  the 
wisdom  and  goodness  of  Him  who  worketh  all  things  after  the 
counsel  of  His  own  will ! 

Ere  Judson  reaches  India,  war  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain,  with  its  myriad  other  evils,  is  throwing  new  im- 
pediments in  his  pathway.  Wonderfully  is  he  enabled  to  elude 
the  purpose  of  the  royal  Governor  and  the  Directors  of  the  East 
India  Company,  who  seemed  bent  on  sending  him  back  to  this 


* The  summary  view  of  his  reasons  for  the  change  of  his  views,  his  practice  and  his 
relations,  he  gave  in  a discourse  on  the  Mode  and  Subjects  of  Baptism,  delivered  in  the 
Lai  Bazar  Chapel,  Calcutta,  27th  September,  1812,  published  in  frequent  editions  in 
India,  in  England,  and  in  this  country. 


16 


LIFE  AND  LABORS  OF 


country.  The  Isle  of  France  becomes  a little  Zoar  to  him  for  a 
few  months.  But  his  eye  and  his  heart  were  long  since  turned 
toward  darkened,  degraded  Burmah.  Nor  can  the  forbidding 
features  of  the  character  of  her  people,  the  perfidy  and  intoler- 
ance of  her  rulers,  or  the  perils  to  himself  and  his  companion 
which  a residence  among  them  involves,  the  one  or  all  of  them 
combined,  deter  him  from  making  the  experiment.  What  faith 
in  God  did  this  act  evince ! 

Then  for  years  see  his  quiet,  earnest,  persevering  devotement 
to  the  mastery  of  a very  difficult  heathen  language.  Witness  the 
struggle  of  attempting  to  repress  the  zeal  which  would  have  led 
him  away  from  the  faithful  pursuit  of  this  high  and  ultimately 
indispensable  attainment,  in  order  to  attempt  some  impracticable 
and  short-sighted  benefit  to  these  poor  pagans  around  him,  of  a 
more  immediate  character. 

He  struggles  on,  with  infirm  health,  an  enervating  climate, 
with  few  or  inadequate  helpers,  for  four  years.  He  begins  to  feel 
some  confidence  in  his  mastery  of  the  language.  A printer  has 
arrived,  and  two  small  tracts  which  he  had  carefully  prepared 
have  been  published.  He  is  busy  on  the  translation  and  print- 
ing of  the  first  of  the  Evangelists,  when  his  ears  and  heart  are 
gladdened  by  the  first  earnest,  spontaneous  inquirer  for  the 
gospel  salvation.  What  an  hour  was  that  when,  silting  by  his 
teacher  as  usual,  he  says  : — 

“A  Burman  of  respectable  appearance,  and  followed  by  a 
servant,  came  up  the  steps  and  sat  down  by  me.  I asked  him 
the  usual  question,  where  he  came  from,  to  which  he  gave  no 
explicit  reply,  but  soon  astonished  me  by  asking,  ‘How  long 
time  will  it  take  to  learn  the  religion  of  Jesus?’  I replied  that 
such  a question  could  not  be  answered.  It  God  gave  light  and 
wisdom,  the  religion  of  Jesus  was  soon  learned  ; but  without 
God,  a man  might  study  all  his  life  long  and  make  no  proficiency. 
But  how,  continued  I,  came  you  to  know  any  thing  of  Jesus? 
Have  you  been  here  before?  ‘ No.’  ‘ Have  you  seen  my  writing 
eoncerning  Jesus?’  ‘ I have  seen  two  little  books.’  ‘Who  is 
Jesus  ?’  ‘ He  is  the  Son  of  God,  who,  pitying  creatures,  came 


the  REV.  ADONIRAM  .TTTDSON,  D.P.  IT 

into  the  world  and  suffered  death  in  their  stead.’  ‘Who  is  God?’’ 
‘He  is  a Being  without  beginning  or  end, — not  subject  to  old 
age  or  death,  but  always  is.’  I cannot  tell  how  I felt  at  this 
moment.  This  was  the  first  acknowledgment  of  an  eternal  God 
that  I had  ever  heard  from  the  lips  of  a Barman.  I handed  him 
a tract  and  catechism,  both  of  which  he  instantly  recognized, 
and  read  here  and  there,  making  occasional  remarks  to  his  fol- 
lower, such  as,  ‘This  is  the  true  God, — this  is  the  right  way/ 
etc.  I now  tried  to  tell  him  some  things  about  God,  and  Christ, 
and  himself ; but  he  did  not  listen  with  much  attention,  and 
seemed  anxious  only  to  get  another  book.  I had  already  told 
him  two  or  three  times  that  I had  finished  no  other  book  ; but 
that  in  two  or  three  months  I would  give  him  a larger  one,  which 
I was  now  daily  employed  in  translating.  But  he  replied,  ‘ Have 
you  not  a little  of  that  book  done,  which  you  will  graciously  give 
me  now?’  And  I,  beginning  to  think  that  God’s  time  is  better 
than  man’s,  folded  and  gave  him  the  first  two  half  sheets,  which 
contain  the  first  five  chapters  of  Matthew,  on  which  he  instantly 
rose,  as  if  his  business  was  all  done,  and,  having  received  an 
invitation  to  come  again,  took  his  leave.” 

This  first  use  of  a portion  of  the  translated  Scriptures  in  Bm- 
man  may  fitly  introduce  a principal  theme  of  this  discourse, 
namely,  the  labors  of  Mr.  Judson  as  a translator  of  the 
Bible  into  the  language  of  an  important  and  interesting  nation, 
supposed  to  contain,  at  the  time  when  he  commenced  this  work, 
a population  equal  to  that  of  the  United  States  at  the  same 
period. 

The  slightest  consideration  of  this  subject  will  evince  the  in- 
dispensableness of  furnishing  the  Sacred  Scriptures  to  such  a 
people,  in  their  vernacular  tongue,  by  any  Protestant  enterprise 
for  their  evangelization.  The  Romish  Church  have  always  ex- 
onerated themselves  from  any  such  obligation  in  regard  to  those 
whom  they  professedly  convert  to  their  faith.  Not  allowing,  or 
certainly  not  encouraging,  the  common  people  to  peruse  the 
Scriptures  for  themselves,  it  would  not  be  expected  of  them  to 
furnish  translations.  Hence,  in  the  various  missions  established 
by  the  Catholics,  even  among  nations  advanced  in  civilization, 
and  possessing  ample  literary  facilities,  no  effort  has  been  made 
3 


18 


LIFE  AND  LABORS  OF 


by  Jesuit,  or  the  more  liberal  Jansenist  missionaries,  to  translate 
the  inspired  records  of  the  Christian  faith  to  be  published  abroad 
for  the  mass  of  the  people.  Their  breviaries  and  missals,  their 
liturgies  and  homilies,  have  been  industriously  circulated,  show- 
ing how  much  more  confidence  they  have  “ in  the  words  which 
man’s  wisdom  teacheth  ” than  in  those  inspired  by  the  Spirit  of 
God.* 

Protestants,  on  the  contrary,  regard  the  appeal  of  the  whole 
body  of  the  disciples  to  the  Scriptures  as  a fundamental  principle. 
It  admitted,  therefore,  neither  of  doubt  nor  delay  that  the  Bur- 
mans  should  have  the  lively  oracles  which  declare  to  us  God’s 
salvation  faithfully  translated  into  their  own  language. 

But  what  are  the  requisites  for  such  a work?  They  are  ob- 
viously two-fold : intellectual  and  moral.  He  who  would  suc- 
cessfully perform  this  great  service  for  a whole  nation,  and  for 
successive  generations,  if  not  enthusiastically  claiming  miracu- 
lous aid  to  fit  him  for  it,  must  gird  himself  for  the  high  endeavor 
with  no  ordinary  amount  of  studious  research.  He  must,  as 
thoroughly  as  man  ever  did  or  can,  master  the  exact  meaning 
of  every  word  and  sentence  of  the  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  and  Greek 
Scriptures.  Whatever  can  throw  light  on  the  sacred  page, 
either  from  ancient  or  modern  investigations,  he  must  familiarly 


* As  exemplifications  of  this  deficiency  of  Catholic  missions,  and  the  disastrous  result* 
■which  have  followed,  look  at  the1  two  striking  illustrations  which  have  been  furnished  in 
India  and  in  China.  The  Romish  mission  at  Goa  was  planted  as  early  as  the  middle  of 
the  fourteenth  century  by  Xavier  himself,  and  was  long  reckoned  one  of  the  most 
flourishing  which  that  Church  could  boast  But  they  never  gave  the  true  Shaster  to 
the  common  people.  They  contented  themselves  with  introducing  them  to  a round  of 
semi-heathenish  and  idolatrous  rites  and  forms,  to  the  worship  of  images,  relics,  and 
reputedly  sacred  times  and  places  baptized  into  a Christian  name;  while  both  the  mind 
and  heart  were  unfed  with  the  Divine  Word  from  heaven,  which  giveth  life  to  the  soul 
Let  the  miserable  results  be  traced  in  that  now  waning  and  almost  extinct  mission, 
which  once  so  greatly  flourished. 

Similar  have  been  the  effects  of  a like  defect  at  Macao.  For  nearly  one  hundred  years 
there  was  apparent  prosperity  attending  that  mission  of  the  Jesuits.  But  they  dared  to 
withhold  the  Bible  from  the  people ; and  they  had  not  the  enforcing  power  of  royal 
mandates,  (like  their  reliance  in  several  of  the  European  nations,)  nnd  hence  no  wonder 
they  are  rapidly  declining,  and  never  have  accomplished  much  good. 


THE  REV.  ADONIRAM  JUDSOX,  D.D.  19 

understand.  Tlie  Biblical  researches  of  the  noblest  minds  must 
be  laid  open  to  his  view,  yea,  their  results  must  be  incorporated 
into  and  made  a constituent  of  his  own  convictions.  What 
powers  of  perception,  analysis,  comparison,  and  combination 
does  all  this  process  require ! so  as  without  confusion  or  feeble- 
ness, neither  betrayed  by  the  desire  of  undue  originality,  nor 
blindly  led  by  authority,  nor  swayed  by  prejudice,  he  may  tena- 
ciously lay  hold  of  the  truth,  by  whomsoever  disclosed,  and 
interweave  this  with  the  results  of  his  own  mature  and  thorough 
investigations.* 

The  difficulty  of  securing  these  varied  attainments  will  be 
made  more  obvious  by  running  the  eye  over  the  lists  of  even  dis- 
tinguished men  who  in  this  department  have  attained  but  moder- 
ate success.  It  seems  to  be  now  generally  conceded,  even  by 
learned  Lutherans  themselves,  that  the  great  reformers  of  their 
school  were  by  no  means  eminent  in  the  historical  and  gram- 
matical interpretation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  For  Luther, 
Melancthon,  Musculus,  or  Bugenhagen,  it  will  now  be  scarcely 
claimed  that  by  a thorough  knowledge  of  the  original  languages 
of  the  Bible,  and  of  the  antiquities,  manners,  customs,  and  geog- 
raphy of  the  ancient  world,  they  adequately  sought  to  give  a 
connected  development  of  the  real  sense  in  the  mind  of  the 
sacred  writers,  in  every  instance.  Calvin  has  perhaps  done 
more  and  better  as  a Biblical  interpreter  than  any  one  of  the 
early  reformers ; nor  does  there  seem  just  ground  for  contesting 
the  claim  which  Tholuck  has  ably  maintained  for  him,  that  in 
his  exegetical  labors,  on  the  New  Testament  at  least,  he  evinces 
considerable  doctrinal  impartiality,  with  ingenious  tact,  various 
learning,  and  deep  Christian  piety.  Yet  even  he  betrays  an  un- 
lovely and  indefensible  solicitude  to  bring  forward  on  all  occa- 
sions, and  without  occasion,  some  of  the  fundamental  and  favor- 


* See  some  admirable  common-sense  vievre,  from  an  experienced  and  able  band,  on 
the  difficulty  of  correct  translations,  in  Dr.  George  Campbell’s  Preliminary  Dissertations 
to  his  Translation  of  the  four  Gospels — Diss.  X.,  part  1st. 


20 


LIFE  AND  LABORS  OF 


ite  views  of  his  system, — thus  lessening  our  respect  for  his 
candor. 

Nor  were  the  leaders  in  the  English  or  Scotch  reformations, 
however  distinguished  some  of  them  may  have  been  for  other 
excellences,  ever  greatly  renowned  for  their  attainments  in 
Biblical  interpretation.  In  one  department,  indeed,  the  English 
mind  has  always  evinced  its  superiority,  namely,  in  the  power 
of  a logical,  common-sense  deduction  of  the  true  sense,  from 
regard  to  the  scope  of  the  passage  under  consideration.  Now 
this  excellence,  when  combined  with  adequate  grammatical  and 
historical  investigation,  in  which  the  Germans  have  proved  them- 
selves so  successful,  will  furnish  the  perfection  of  fitness  for  a 
translator,  so  far  as  this  portion  of  his  qualifications  are  con- 
cerned. He  must  indeed,  first  and  chief  of  all,  be  pervaded 
with  pious  reverence  for  God’s  Word.  This  will  secure  the 
faithful  application  of  whatever  intellectual  acquisitions  are 
within  his  reach ; will  keep  the  eye,  and  heart,  and  hand  un- 
waveringly fixed  on  the  great  end  to  be  accomplished.  He  who 
is  thus  imbued  with  a knowledge  of  and  love  for  the  Sacred 
Writings  has  the  first  indispensable  requisite  for  a translator  of 
them. 

Together  with  this,  there  should  also  be  found  such  homo- 
geneousness, such  harmony  of  spirit  between  the  translator 
and  the  original  text,  as  will  enable  him  readily  to  enter  into,  and 
sympathize  with,  the  various  parts  of  its  composite  character. 
No  one,  for  instance,  would  expect  a mere  mathematician  to 
properly  translate  a fine  poem ; nor,  on  the  contrary,  would  the 
man  of  predominant  imagination,  manifesting  itself  in  nice  artis- 
tic beauty,  be  any  more  competent  to  do  justice  to  a work  of 
scientific  details,  with  all  their  combinations  and  evolutions. 
Now  the  Bible,  more  than  any  other  single  book,  presents  us 
with  a comprehensive  variety  of  dissimilar  characteristics.  Here 
we  find  the  simple  narrative ; there  the  deep  philosophy,  or  the 
sententious  proverb.  Now  you  are  soaring  on  the  wing  of  im- 


TIIE  REV.  ADONIRAM  JUDSON,  D.D. 


21 


passioned  poetry  ; and  anon  you  are  led  to  grapple  with  a pro- 
found argument,  or  feel  the  power  of  the  most  spirit-stirring 
eloquence.  All  this  obviously  demands,  in  any  one  man  who 
should  hope  adequately  to  translate  this  holy  book,  such  a com- 
bination of  tastes  and  attainments  as  are  very  rarely  found  in  any 
single  individual.  Hence  the  Germans,  and  the  Dutch,  and  the 
English  combined  many  laborers  on  their  respective  versions, 
in  the  hope,  no  doubt,  that  the  deficiencies  of  one  would  be  sup- 
plied by  some  of  his  associates,  and  so  the  great  work  of  trans- 
lation and  revision  would  be  rendered  as  perfect  as  possible. 
And  yet,  in  full  view  of  all  this  difficulty,  it  does  not  seem 
utterly  impossible  for  a man  richly  endowed,  and  who  by  long- 
continued,  earnest  study  has  become  measurably  assimilated  to 
the  varied  character  of  this  holy  book,  to  approximate  very 
closely  to  the  ideal  of  this  requisite,  which  the  nature  of  the  case 
seems  absolutely  to  demand. 

Moreover,  in  case  of  a missionary  to  the  heathen  who  under- 
takes a version  of  the  Scriptures  into  their  language,  we  shall  at 
once  perceive  that  no  small  additional  difficulty  will  present 
itself  in  his  own  inadequate  knowledge  of  the  tongue  into  which 
he  is  required  to  translate.  This  was  not  experienced  by  Wick- 
liffe  and  Tvndale  when  they  translated  the  Scriptures  into  Eng- 
lish ; or  by  Luther  when  he  rendered  them  into  German;  or 
Calvin  into  French  ; — for  each  of  these  translated  into  his  mother 
tongue.  But  however  difficult,  it  is  an  indispensable  require- 
ment in  a translator.  He  must  fully  understand  the  language, 
and,  in  order  to  this,  the  mental  and  moral  constitution,  history, 
philosophy,  and  habits  of  the  people  into  whose  tongue  he  is  to 
make  his  version  of  the  Sacred  Writings.  Obviously  it  is  not 
enough  that  a tolerably  correct  knowledge  of  the  mere  vocabu- 
lary of  that  tongue  be  possessed  by  the  translator.  To  guard  his 
version  against  liability  to  the  most  frequent  and  glaring  miscon- 
ceptions, he  must  know  not  only  what  senses  a word  or  phrase 
will  allow,  under  certain  contingencies,  but  what  will  be  its 


22 


LIFE  A XL)  LABORS  OF 


danger  of  perversion  in  the  particular  case  or  connection  he  is 
now  considering.  But  such  knowledge  cannot  be  secured  by 
one  who  is  not  very  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  mental  and 
moral  habits  of  a people,  as  well  as  with  those  forms  of  expres- 
sion which  are  but  their  manifestation. 

The  missionary’s  mastery  of  a language  so  utterly  unlike 
either  to  his  own  vernacular  or  the  whole  family  of  its  cognate 
tongues,  is  a work  of  vastly  greater  difficulty  than  those  can  con- 
ceive who  have  had  no  experience  in  such  a case  to  guide  them. 
Mr.  Judson,  after  several  years  of  most  earnest  and  exhausting 
toil  devoted  to  the  acquisition  of  Burman,  said  of  his  success  that 
it  did  not  equal  what  a three  months’  study  of  French  had  for- 
merl}T  yielded  him  in  the  knowledge  of  that  language.  Having  to 
begin  without  elementary  books,  or  even  teachers  well  qualified 
to  render  the  requisite  aid,  his  was  the  Herculean  task  of  climb- 
ing the  steep  and  lofty  acclivity  without  a ladder, — of  feeling  out 
the  tortuous  paths  of  the  labyrinth  without  the  guiding  thread. 
For  be  it  remembered,  no  such  superficial  knowledge  of  the 
language  as  the  purposes  of  ordinary  intercourse,  for  trade,  for 
the  gratification  of  pleasure  or  curiosity,  demand,  will  in  any 
degree  satisfy  him  who  feels  adequately  impressed  with  the 
responsibility  of  giving  to  a great  nation  a correct  trans- 
cript of  God’s  Word,  by  which  their  eternal  destiny  is  to  be 
affected. 

For  all  these  reasons,  we  see  the  beneficent  wisdom  of  that 
divine  arrangement  which  makes  such  a scholar  and  such  a man 

O 

the  instrument  of  conferring  this  priceless  boon  upon  the  millions 
of  Burmah.  Just  consider  the  facilities  he  has  enjoyed  for  more 
than  one  third  of  a century,  in  mingling  freely  with  all  classes  of 
the  people,  from  the  palaces  of  their  princes  to  the  dungeons  of 
their  prisoners  ; in  their  dwellings,  their  market-places,  their 
secular  and  sacred  assemblies,  no  less  than  by  the  diligent  pe- 
rusal, yea,  the  earnest  and  persevering  study  and  collation  of 
their  not  meagre  manuscripts,  their  books  of  palm-leaf,  and 


THE  KEY.  ADOXIRAM  JUDSOX,  U.D. 


23 


whatever  form  of  transient  or  more  permanent  record  their 
literature  has  assumed. 

Most  of  his  long  missionary  life  Dr.  Judson  has  been  enabled 
to  be  an  indefatigable  student.  He  has  given  some  seven  or  eight 
hours  a day  to  faithful,  earnest  study,  and  learned  so  to  regulate 
his  diet,  his  exercise,  and  the  alternations  of  his  employment,  as 
to  secure  to  himself  the  utmost  possible  amount  of  mental  vigor.* 
The  result  of  all  this  has  been  a very  wonderful  and  most  per- 
fect mastery  of  the  difficult  Burman  language.  Years  ago,  when 
his  knowledge  of  it  was  of  course  far  less  exact  and  comprehen- 
sive than  it  has  since  become,  the  brother  of  the  present  King  of 
Burmah  admitted  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Malcom  that  no  man  in  the 
empire  so  well  understood  their  language  in  all  its  capabilities  as 
our  missionary.  How  unlike  in  this  respect  was  his  fitness  for 
the  work  of  a translator  to  that  of  those  who  are  obliged  to  rely 
chiefly  on  the  help  of  their  pundits,  or  professedly  learned  na- 
tives, whose  real  knowledge  of  either  English  or  their  own 
tongue  has  so  frequently  proved  to  be  wretchedly  inadequate. 
“A  translator  must  be  able  readily  to  think  in  the  language  into 
which  his  version  is  to  be  made,”  was  Judson’s  own  testimony. 
His  exhortation  to  junior  missionaries,  who  seemed  to  have  a 
talent  for  philology,  often  was,  “Read  the  palm-leaf — read  the 
palm-leaf.”  [The  native  books  are  generally  w-ritten  on  pre- 
pared palm-leaves.] 

Nor  were  Dr.  Judson’s  Biblical  attainments  less  eminent. 
Having  early  formed  the  habit  of  great  exactness  and  thorough- 


* Rev.  Dr.  Malcom  says : “ His  care  of  his  health  Teas  remarkable.  It  was  a sacred 
and  conscientious  tiling  with  him  ; not  for  the  sake  of  comfort,  for  he  constantly  sacri- 
ficed comfort  and  love  of  ease  for  the  sake  of  health.  It  was  the  unity  of  object  so 
conspicuous  in  him.  He  wanted  to  husband  all  his  powers  and  keep  them  in  order. 
No  man  ever  feared  death  less  than  he.  It  was  his  sovereign  remedy  for  sorrow  to 
think  of  death.  But  he  valued  life,  and  he  used  it  as  a steward.  He  never  exposed 
himself  to  the  sun,  or  to  the  night  air.  He  would  not  cross  his  yard  at  mid-day  without 
a great  umbrella.  I often  sat  with  him  in  the  evening,  shut  up  closely  by  mats  at  the 
windows,  enduring  the  discomfort  sooner  than  risk  the  unwholesome  but  pleasant 
breeze.” 


24 


LIFE  AND  LABORS  OF 


ness  in  his  investigation  of  the  meaning  of  divine  revelation,  and 
having  a passionate  fondness  for  studies  of  this  character,  he 
availed  himself  of  the  helps  which  the  best  exegetical  writers, 
English  and  American,  but  especially  those  of  Germany,  have 
furnished.  Undazzled  by  their  lofty  pretensions,  and  unseduced 
by  their  daring  innovations,  he  yet  employed  their  aid  to  the  ut- 
most, wherever  it  could  avail  either  in  fixing  the  sacred  text  of 
Scripture,  or  in  ascertaining  its  meaning.*  In  this  respect  it  is 
doubtful  whether  his  superior,  if  indeed  his  equal,  is  to  be  found 
in  the  whole  compass  of  missionary  translators  of  God’s  Word. 
Some  of  the  eminent  Biblical  scholars  in  our  country  were  sur- 
prised, in  their  personal  intercourse  with  him,  to  find  that  he  had 
fully  kept  up  with  the  rapid  progress  of  that  important  depart- 
ment of  sacred  science,  for  the  last  thirty  or  forty  years. 

Nor  were  his  varied  endowments  and  attainments  less  strik- 
ingly adapted  to  fit  him  for  success  in  all  parts  and  aspects  of 
this  great  endeavor.  A few  of  these  can  barely  be  mentioned 
here  without  any  amplification.  While  yet  a recent  graduate 
from  the  University,  and  employed  as  an  instructor  of  youth  in 
one  of  the  academies  of  his  native  State,  he  prepared  and  pub- 
lished a grammar  of  the  English  language.  Who  can  tell  how 
much  the  preparation  of  this  his  earliest  offering  to  the  press 
served  to  turn  his  attention  to  the  forms  and  relations  of  words, 
in  which  department  he  afterward  was  to  act  so  distinguished  a 
part  ? His  style  of  writing  in  English  may  well  be  reckoned  a 
model  of  clearness,  terseness,  vigor;  the  very  qualities  most 
needful  in  his  great  enterprise.  He  had  just  little  enough  expe- 
rience of  religious  polemics,  to  sharpen  without  souring  his  spirit. 
The  few  of  his  poetical  contributions  which  have  been  allowed 
to  see  the  light,  prove  conclusively  how  much  of  the  spirit  of  the 
sacred  bards  of  the  Bible  glowed  in  his  soul,  fitting  him  admi- 
rably to  enter  into  their  conceptions.  He  was  indeed  very  re- 


* The  liberality  with  which  the  Mission  Board  furnished  to  his  order  all  the  best 
works  in  this  department,  without  regard  to  expense,  is  worthy  of  all  commendation. 


25 


the  REV.  ADONIKAM  JUDSON,  D.I). 

markable  for  devotional  feeling.  Intensely  was  lie  imbued  with 
the  spirituality  of  the  pietists  of  the  school  of  Fen6lon.  Many  of 
them,  without  Judson’s  logical  and  mathematical  mind,  went  to 
excess.  He  never  did.  Symmetry  of  mental  constitution  and 
of  attainment  was  one  of  his  noticeable  characteristics ; but  his 
devotional  eminence  was  still  prominent,  and  admirably  litled 
him  to  catch  the  true  spirit  of  a thousand  passages,  to  which 
otherwise  he  could  not  have  done  justice. 

What  John  Foster  somewhere  denominates  the  intense  severity 
of  conviction  that  he  had  one  thing  to  do,  impelled  him  to  give 
himself  to  this  work  of  translation  with  such  concentration  of  his 
mental  and  moral  forces,  as  scarcely  admitted  respite.  It  will 
excite  no  wonder  that  one  thus  convinced  of  his  obligation 
would  feel  constrained,  by  diligent  and  prayerful  study,  to  make 
himself  as  thoroughly  acquainted  as  possible  with  the  meaning 
of  the  inspired  originals  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  ; and  then  to  give 
that  meaning  with  the  utmost  possible  exactness  and  clearness, 
in  the  translation  which  he  prepared.  No  possibility  of  com- 
promise would  in  such  a case  be  deemed  admissible;  for  the 
mandate  resting  on  him  from  the  Divine  Author  of  this  Book 
was,  “He  that  hath  my  word,  let  him  speak  [declare]  my  word 
faithfully.” 

There  is  an  obvious  distinction  in  this  respect  between  the 
obligation  of  a translator  of  Scripture,  and  an  author  who  pre- 
pares any  moral  or  religious  treatise  of  his  own  for  publication. 
In  the  latter  case  it  may  be  allowable  and  even  praiseworthy  in 
frequent  instances,  to  prepare  a tract  or  other  document,  which 
the  writer  may  desire  to  have  approved  and  sustained  by  those 
entertaining  on  some  subjects  diverse,  or  even  opposing  views.* 
He  would  be  at  liberty  to  select  such  a subject  for  his  union 


* Dr.  Judson  showed  most  convincingly  his  willingness  to  co-operate  in  such  union 
endeavors.  Of  forty  or  fifty  tracts  and  small  volumes,  published  by  the  American 
Tract  Society  in  the  Burman  language,  more  than  one  half  are  believed  to  have 
been  prepared  by  him. 

4 


26 


LIFE  AXD  LABORS  OF 


treatise  as  would  not  involve  these  controverted  points ; or  so  to 
guard  his  statements  as  would  render  them  unobjectionable. 
But  no  such  discretionary  power  is  vested  in  a Bible  translator. 
Sitlin"  down  to  this  work,  he  takes  on  him  an  infinite  obligation 
to  set  forth  unequivocally  the  meaning  of  the  words  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  employed  in  communicating  the  will  of  God  to  the 
human  family.  This  has  been  the  conviction  of  all  the  best  and 
worthiest  translators  of  the  S:riptures  into  the  languages  of  the 
heathen.  It  was  therefore  no  new  thing  which  Judson  did,  or 
at  least  no  new  principle,  no  innovating  and  unwarranted  expe- 
riment on  which  he  acted,  in  giving  to  the  best  of  his  ability  the 
unveiled  meaning  of  all  God’s  Word  to  the  Burmans  in  their  own 
tongue.  If  mightier  appliances  were  brought  to  bear  on  him 
than  on  most  other  translators,  to  induce  him  to  compromise  a 
little,  he  honored  his  allegiance  to  a Divine  Master,  by  steadily 
resisting  them.* 

Look  r.ow  at  this  noble  man  of  God,  girding  himself  for  this 
great  labor  of  his  life.  Not  wealth  or  fame  are  the  impelling  con- 
viction, but  a far  stronger  and  more  sacred  urgency,  that  he  must 
give  all  the  revelation  of  God  to  those  who  have  long  been  silting 
in  the  region  and  shadow  of  death.  Weeks  and  months,  and 
even  years  of  this  sequestered  toil  are  his,  often  uncheered  by 
any  sympathizing  companion,  until,  seventeen  years  after  he  had 
handed  those  half-sheets,  containing  five  chapters  of  his  earliest 
effort  at  translating  the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  to  that  Butman  in- 
quirer above  noticed,  at  the  end  of  the  first  month  of  the  year, 
late  at  night,  he  bows  down  by  the  side  of  this  little  table,!  on 
which  his  translation  had  been  elaborated,  and  taking  in  his 
hand  the  last  sheet  of  the  completed  Bible,  the  ink  scarcely 


* To  sustain  him  and  other  translators  in  similar  circumstances,  it  became  requisite — 
after  the  American  Bible  Society  refused  them  farther  aid — to  originate  the  American 
and  Foreign  Rible  Society,  on  whose  operations,  especially  in  foreign  lands,  the  blessing 
of  God  has  been  so  largely  bestoved. 

•|-  Which  was  standing  in  the  pulpit  when  the  discourse  was  delivered. 


THE  ItEV.  ADOS  IE  AM  JUDSOX,  D.D. 


dry  upon  it,  he  lifted  up  his  soul  in  thankfulness  to  Clod,  who  had 
enabled  him  to  fulfil  the  great  purpose  of  his  life,  in  finishing  a 
work  so  important  to  the  millions  of  the  Burmese.  What  a 
spectacle  was  that ! The  humble  missionary  praying  for  Divine 
forgiveness  of  everv  fault  and  imperfection  cleaving  to  his  work; 
and  then  imploring  God’s  blessing  on  His  own  Word,  thus  ren- 
dered intelligible  to  those  who  hitherto  had  worshipped  dumb 
idols,  instead  of  their  Creator — Preserver — Redeemer! 

If  there  be  moral  sublimity  in  the  emotions  awakened  by  the 
composition  of  any  work  of  mere  human  toil,  genius,  and  perse- 
verance, like  Gibbon’s  great  History,  the  completion  of  which  he 
seems  to  have  regarded,  not  unnaturally,  with  peculiar  and  deep 
emotion,  how  much  more  worthy  of  such  intense  and  devout 
fervor  the  completion  of  this  work,  which  for  ages  will  probably 
remain  the  authoritative  guide-book  of  God  himself  for  a whole 
nation! 

Who  can  fully  estimate  the  extensive,  powerful,  and  salutary 
influence  of  one  volume,  like  the  Bible,  to  be  read  with  rever- 
ence, and  quoted  with  frequency  by  a whole  people ; by  the 
youth  in  their  schools,  by  all  classes  in  their  families;  b}r  the 
man  of  taste  for  its  refining  and  elevating  effects;  by  the  logician 
as  an  exercise  of  keenest  dialectics;  by  the  poet,  the  orator,  the 
historian,  as  furnishing  models  for  them  all;  but  especially  by 
men,  women,  and  children,  when  their  souls  are  most  melted  and 
impressible,  in  all  the  varied  experiences  of  joy  and  sorrow,  of 
hope  and  fear,  through  the  whole  pilgrimage  of  life! 

Nor  did  our  beloved  missionary  regard  this  work  as  complete 
when  he  had  finished  the  first  revision  of  his  laboriously  prepared 
translation.  Again  and  again  does  he  pass  over  the  whole,  in 
critical,  earnest  review.  Of  the  third  of  those  revisions  alone, 
he  declared  that  not  less,  but  frequently  much  more  time  and 
care  had  been  expended  on  it  than  on  the  original  version.  Thus 
did  he  proceed,  even  to  the  end  of  his  useful  life,  gathering  from 
every  accessible  source,  from  the  experience  and  observation  of 


28 


LIFE  AND  LABORS  OF 


liis  missionary  brethren,  from  the  remarks  of  heathen  converts, 
and  even  from  objectors,  whatever  might  serve  to  give  clearer 
expression  to  the  Divine  will,  or  more  perfectly  guard  against 
all  possible  misconception.  He  seems  to  have  acted  on  the  con- 
viction, that  so  long  as  any  thing  remained  to  give  greater  per- 
fection, finish,  and  unmistakable  intelligibleness  to  this  version, 
it  was  his  duty  to  labor  on  it  for  the  attainment  of  these  high 
ends.* 

Nor  was  it  an  obscure  indication  of  the  Divine  purpose  con- 
cerning his  labors  of  this  description,  that  Providence  directed 
his  employment  for  the  later  years  of  his  life  in  the  important 
sphere  of  lexicography,  which,  more  than  any  other,  would  so 
admirably  serve  to  fit  him  for  the  finishing  work  of  his  translation 
and  revision  of  the  Scriptures.  Of  these  labors  for  giving  as 
complete  and  full  a dictionary  as  possible,  both  English-Burman 
and  Burman-English,  it  is  understood  that  the  former,  as  the 
more  immediately  important  to  every  missionary,  is  completed  ; 
and  the  latter  was  so  far  advanced  at  the  time  of  his  death,  that 
his  accurate,  laborious  assistant,  the  llcv.  Mr.  Stevens,  will  find 
no  difficulty  in  completing  it,  on  the  model,  and  according  to  the 
views  of  its  distinguished  projector.  Thus  were  the  great  ends 
of  that  long,  eventful,  toilsome  life,  the  objects  for  which,  once 
and  again,  he  had  expressed  a desire  and  a hope  to  be  a little 
longer  spared,  at  length  measurably  consummated. 


* The  importance  of  the  utmost  pains  taking  to  render  the  Burman  version  of  the 
Scriptures  as  perfect  as  possible,  will  be  more  obvious  when  it  is  considered  that  it  will 
be  not  only  a kind  of  model  and  standard  for  the  versions  which  may  be  soon  required 
in  surrounding  nations,  but  also,  it  will  greatly  facilitate  the  work  of  translators  into  the 
languages  of  the  Peguans,  Sliyans,  Sinkphoos,  and  numerous  other  tribes,  whose  tongues 
seem  to  indicate  a close  affinity  with  the  Borman.  The  aid  which  Mason  has  derived  from 
it,  in  the  version  of  the  Bible  into  the  Karen  language,  just  now  completed,  he  has  often 
and  gratefully  acknowledged. 

Dr.  Malcom  says:  “ In  no  part  of  my  trip  did  I find  missionaries  expressing  themselves  in 
terms  of  satisfaction  with  their  respective  versions  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  but  in  Burmab. 
Dr.  Judson  always  held  himself  open  to  the  observations  of  his  fellow-missionaries,  and  by 
that  means  secured  a vast  amount  of  admirable  criticism  from  such  men  as  Wade,  Jones, 
Mason,  and  others.’’ 


THE  REV.  ADONIRAM  Jl'DSON,  D.D. 


‘29 


We  should,  however,  be  doing  great  injustice  to  the  memory 
and  the  labors  of  this  honored  servant  of  Christ,  were  we  so  to 
exhibit  his  surpassing  qualifications  and  persevering  toils  as  a 
translator  of  the  Bible,  as  to  cast  into  entire  shade  his  services 
as  a devoted  missionary  of  the  Cross;  a laborious,  successiul 
preacher  of  the  gospel ; a guide  and  helper  unequalled  to  the 
native  evangelists,  and  the  affectionate,  revered  pastor  of  a loving 
flock  of  converts  from  heathenism.  A glance  at  him,  in  each  of 
these  departments,  must  suffice  the  present  purpose.* 

Nearly  three  years  before  he  had  completed  the  translation  of 
the  whole  Bible,  lie  lelt  impelled,  by  a kind  of  sacred  afflatus  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  to  take  his  life  in  his  hand  and  go  to  Prome,  one 
of  the  ancient  and  reputedly  sacred  seats  of  Boodhism,  and  for 
many  weeks  continuously  devote  himself  to  evangelical  labors 
beneath  the  towering  pagoda  of  the  celebrated  god,  Slnvay 
Lan  dau.  Part  of  his  own  graphic  description  is  in  these 
words: — 

“There  is  no  portion  of  my  missionary  life  that  I review  with 
less  dissatisfaction  than  my  sojourn  in  Prome.  This  city  was 
founded  several  hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era.  Through 
how  manv  ages  have  the  successive  generations  of  its  dark  inhabi- 
tants lived  and  died  without  the  slightest  knowledge  of  the  great 
Eternal,  and  the  only  way  of  salvation  which  He  has  provided ! 
At  length,  in  the  year  1S30,  it  was  ordered  that  a missionary  of 
the  Cross  should  sit  down  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  and  from  day 
to  day,  for  above  three  months,  should  pour  forth  divine  truth 
in  language  which,  if  not  eloquent  and  acceptable,  was  at  least 
intelligible  to  all  ranks.  What  a wonderful  phenomenon  must 
this  have  been  to  celestial  beings  who  gaze  upon  the  works  and 
dispensations  of  God  in  this  lower  world  ! 

“It  was  necessary,  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  Divine  pur- 
poses, that  after  so  many  centuries  of  darkness,  there  should  be  just 


* Other  features  of  excellence  are  passed  by  with  regret.  The  versatility  of  his  powers 
was  eminently  noticeable.  That  one  who  had  so  buried  himself  in  his  devotion  to  Burman 
studies  should  still  be  able,  in  a moment,  to  mingle  with  the  court  circles  of  Sir  Archi- 
bald Campbell’s  embassy,  and  by  bis  exact  and  various  knowledge  of  all  theWntricacies 
of  diplomacy  should  win  such  admiration  and  confidence  from  these  fastidious  men,  how 
strikingly  does  it  illustrate  the  rich  variety  of  God’s  endowment  of  this  His  servant  1 


30 


LIFE  AND  LABORS  OF 


such  an  exhibition  of  light  as  has  been  made.  Thousands  have 
heard  of  God,  who  never,  nor  their  ancestors,  heard  before. 
Frequently  in  passing  through  the  streets,  and  in  taking  my  seal 
in  the  zayats,  I have  felt  such  a solemnity  and  awe  on  my  spirits, 
as  almost  prevented  me  from  opening  my  lips,  to  communicate 
the  momentous  message  with  which  I was  charged.  How  the 
preacher  has  preached,  and  how  the  hearers  have  heard,  the  day 
of  judgment  will  show.  Blessed  be  God,  there  are  some  whose 
faces  I expect  to  see  at  the  right  hand  of  the  great  Judge.  Many 
also  there  are,  who  have  become  so  far  enlightened,  that  I am 
sure  they  never  can  bow  the  knee  to  Shwa}r  Lan  dau,  without  a 
distressing  conviction  that  they  are  in  the  wrong  way.  Farewell 
to  thee,  Prome  ! Willingly  would  I have  spent  my  last  breath  in 
thee  and  for  thee.  But  thy  sons  ask  me  not  to  stay,  and  I must 
preach  the  gospel  to  other  cities  also,  for  therefore  am  I sent. 
Read  the  five  hundred  tracts  that  I have  left  with  thee.  Pray  to 
the  God  and  Saviour  that  I have  told  thee  of.  And  if  hereafter 
thou  call  me,  though  in  the  lowest  whisper,  and  it  reach  me  in 
the  very  extremities  of  the  empire,  I will  joyfully  listen  and  come 
back  to  thee.” 

With  what  intenseness  and  exclusiveness  of  devotement  to 
the  great  work  of  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  heathen  he  was 
imbued  from  the  very  outset,  we  may  learn  from  his  own  words, 
when  he  was  about  to  revisit  his  native  country.  He  is  explaining- 
why  he  should  not  be  expected  or  solicited  to  perform  the  usual 
work,  too  largely  demanded,  often,  of  returned  missionaries: — 

<fThe~(%m'?tr'Thn.t  I hav^-umlm-mly  -pursued,  ever  since  I 
became  a missionary,  has  been  rather  peculiar.  In  order  to  be- 
come an  acceptable,  successful  preacher  in  a foreign  language, 
I deliberately  abjured  my  own.  When  I crossed  the  river,  I 
burnt  my  ships.  For  thirty-two  years  I have  scarcely  entered 
an  English  pulpit,  or  made  a speeh  in  that  language.  Whether 
I have  pursued  the  wisest  course,  I will  not  contend ; and  how 
far  1 have  attained  the  object  aimed  at,  I must  leave  others  to  say. 
But  whether  right  or  wrong,  the  course  I have  taken  cannot  be 
retraced.  The  burnt  ships  cannot  now  be  re-constructed.  From 
long  desuetude,  I can  scarcely  put  three  sentences  together  in 
the  [spoken]  English  language.” 

How  Assiduous  and  successful  were  his  endeavors  to  make 
himself  as  useful  as  possible  to  the  whole  body  of  native  assist- 


THE  KKV.  ADONIBAM  JI'DSOX,  J).I). 


ants,  in  their  labors  to  disseminate  the  gospel,  to  guide  inquirers, 
to  grapple  with  the  difficulties  thrown  in  their  way,  both  by 
subtle  and  by  haughty  objectors,  all  who  have  witnessed  his 
daily,  systematic  intercourse  with  them  in  Maulmain,  have  united 
in  attesting. 

Immediately  after  breakfast,  each  week-day  morning,  this 
company  of  assistants,  sometimes  larger  and  sometimes  smaller, 
but  averaging  in  that  city  alone  some  six  or  eight,  were  expected 
to  meet  Dr.  Judson  in  his  study;  and  to  them  the  first  hour  of 
the  best  part  of  the  day  was  uniformly  given.  They  were  each 
encouraged  to  give  a brief  recapitulation  of  their  preceding  day’s 
labors  ; what  they  had  taught,  and  with  what  effect  in  each 
instance  ; how  they  had  been  opposed,  and  in  what  manner, 
both  in  spirit  and  form,  they  had  met  these  opposers.  None  can 
reasonably  doubt  the  immense  value  of  those  theological  lec- 
tures, familiar  and  simple  in  form,  but  underlying  the  whole 
structure  of  the  system  of  evangelism,  which  were  thus  inci- 
dentally drawn  from  him.  So  practically  useful  and  interesting 
were  they  deemed,  that  many  of  the  other  residents  and  visitors 
in  the  city  would  greatly  have  coveted  to  share  their  hearing 
with  these  humble  disciples,  had  not  the  freedom  of  the  latter,  in 
their  unrestrained  communications  with  their  beloved  teacher, 
made  such  admissions  impracticable. 

One  more  view  let  us  take  of  this  God-sustained  man.  For 
this  purpose  we  will  enter  the  unostentatious  church  edifice, 
where  the  Burman  assembly  that  called  him  pastor  were  wront 
to  assemble.  The  zayat  stands  some  twenty  yards  from  his 
dwelling,  and  within  the  same  inclosure.  As  we  approach  the 
steps,  a hundred  pairs  of  sandals  are  observed  lying  around. 
We  see,  on  entering,  a well-dressed  assembly,  seated  on  the 
clean,  matted  floor,  leaning  their  backs  against  a rail,  raised 
about  a foot.  No  pulpit,  no  galleries  are  there,  but  at  the  farther 
end  of  the  aisle  stand  a few  settees  for  the  missionaries  and 
their  families,  on  either  side  of  a plain  arm-chair.  There  sits 


32 


LIFE  AND  LABORS  OF 


Judson.  Profound  respect  is  depicted  on  every  face.  He  offers 
prayer.  The  missionaries  kneel,  the  natives  bow  forward  with 
their  faces  to  the  floor.  God  hears  ardent  petitions  in  a language 
so  lately  used  only  for  His  dishonor,  and  the  degradation  of  out- 
race.  From  that  Burman  Bible  is  impressively  read  a portion 
of  God’s  Word,  and  more  recently  His  praises  have  been  accept- 
ably sung,  by  nearly  the  whole  body  of  the  disciples.  Judson 
then  discourses  of  divine  things.  You  perceive  that,  like  the 
Saviour,  “he  sits  and  teaches  the  people.”  This  habit,  first  re- 
sorted to  from  physical  weakness,  was  continued  by  the  desire 
of  the  native  disciples,  as  it  conduced  to  their  greater  familiarity, 
and  enabled  them  with  more  freedom  to  ask  for  additional  ex- 
planations, when  requisite.  During  this  part  of  the  service,  he 
looks  like  a father  sitting  in  the  loved  family  circle,  their  eyes 
all  beaming  on  him,  with  the  reposing  confidence  which  indi- 
cates the  tender  endearment  of  their  relation  to  him.  No  won- 
der that  these  disciples,  when  his  days  were  evidently  termina- 
ting, gathered  around  the  boat  that  was  to  bear  him  away  from 
them,  and  with  eloquent  tears  besought  that  he  might  be  carried 
back  to  die  in  their  midst,  that  they  and  their  children  might 
often  visit  his  grave  ! 

It  cannot  be  needful  to  detain  you,  at  the  end  of  this  meagre 
sketch  of  a life  of  toils,  enterprises,  sufferings,  achievements, 
such  as  rarely  are  allotted  to  any  one  of  our  race,  formally  to 
point  the  moral  which  this  great  lesson  so  impressively  teaches. 
We  must  be  blind,  deaf,  and  to  all  spiritual  impressions  dead 
also,  if  such  an  example  does  not  in  various  ways  and  to  a high 
degree  profit  us.  The  various  interesting  positions  in  which  he 
has  been  placed,  particularly  when  for  nearly  twenty  months  a 
prisoner,  often  in  fearful  peril  of  immediate  death,  subjected  to 
such  tortures  and  indignities  as  in  the  distant  remembrance  are 
almost  insupportably  harrowing  to  the  sensibilities,  wearing 
sometimes  five  pairs  of  fetters  at  once,  mocked,  threatened,  and 
brutally  maltreated, — was  it  not  allowed,  in  part  at  least,  to  give 


33 


T1IE  REV.  ADONIRAM  JUDSON,  1).D. 

him  anil  the  cause  with  which  he  was  identified  a stronger  hold 
upon  our  worthiest  affections? 

Those  appeals  which  from  lime  to  time  he  sent  us,  whether 
addressed  to  Christian  mothers,*  as  to  the  training  of  their 
daughters,  so  that  in  dress,  in  ornaments,  and  in  all  their  de- 
portment, the  heathen  might  learn  no  evil  from  them ; or  to  all 
classes  among  us,t  to  take  hold  of  and  prosecute  the  great 
work  of  evangelizing  the  heathen  in  such  a way  as  will 
meet  our  Saviour’s  approval, — can  they  die  away  and  be 
forgotten  ? 

The  self-renouncing  humility  he  evinced,  when  for  a few 
months  he  moved  among  us,  admired,  beloved,  revered  by  all, — 
yet  so  much  the  more  as  the  thronging  multitudes  honored  him, 
was  he  ever  seen  abasing  himself  at  his  Saviour’s  footstool. 
The  eminence  of  his  attainments  in  spiritual  religion,  have  been 
adverted  to  as  fitting  him  for  his  work.  The  grace  of  God  was 
magnified  in  his  experience  of  its  transforming  power  no  less,  to 
fit  him  meekly  to  wear  the  honors  he  had  won.J  This  grace 
made  even  the  less  estimable  features  of  his  character — certain 
natural  peculiarities  which  he  was  wont  to  deplore — available  to 
a good  purpose.  As  the  ship-builder  selects  for  his  rudder-post, 
and  the  massive  knees  of  his  floating  fabric,  where  most  exposed 
to  severe  pressure,  not  the  free,  the  straight-grained  and  easily- 
wrought  timber,  but  what  to  our  eye  seems  gnarled  and  un- 
tractable,  yet  by  his  wise  appliances  is  rendered  more  useful 
on  account  of  its  crooked  and  knotty  rigidity  ; so  has  the  Great 
Artificer , in  rearing  His  spiritual  temple,  made  tributary  to  His 
praise  many  of  the  proud  sons  of  earth,  and  even  their  native 


* See  Tract  No.  172,  of  the  Baptist  Publication  Society, 
f See  Appendix  No.  L 

f J udson  never  boasted,  or  even  -willingly  recounted  his  adventures.  One  that  had 
been  an  inmate  of  his  family  in  Maulmain  more  than  a month,  and  in  habits  of  freest, 
daily  intercourse  with  him,  says : “ He  never  spoke  of  his  sufferings  in  prison  or  any- 
where else,  except  to  depreciate  them,  as  being  vastly  less  worthy  of  regard  than  was 
generally  supposed.” 

5 


34 


LIFE  AND  LABORS  OF 


waywardness  has  yielded  an  important  subserviency  to  His 
high  ends.  What  God  wrought  by  Martin  Luther,  Andrew  Ful- 
ler, and  our  indomitable  Judson,  no  timid,  time-serving,  pliable 
Erasmuses  would  have  been  at  all  fitted,  even  as  instruments,  to 
promote.  The  manner  in  which  God’s  overruling  providence  and 
grace  made  even  the  less  estimable  features  of  his  character  avail- 
able to  a good  purpose  ; — his  pertinacious  adherence  to  the  way 
which  he  thought  right  and  best ; the  keenness  with  which  he 
looked  through  disguises,  and  detected  weakness  and  obliquities 
of  which  the  possessors  were  scarcely  conscious  ; that  rapidity 
of  perception  and  mental  combination  which  gave  him  the  full 
mastery  of  a subject,  and  led  him  to  what  might  seem  a rash  as 
well  as  obstinate  decision ; the  full  consciousness  of  superior 
ability  and  discernment,  with  the  ill-concealed  endeavor  to  hide 
his  own  mastery,  where  jealousy  was  in  danger  of  being 
awakened  by  it ; — all  this,  and  much  more  of  a similar  kind,  can 
find  no  place  for  illustration  here.  When  these  things  are 
forgotten,  his  many  sterling  excellences,  the  warmth  and 
purity  of  his  social  affections,  and  the  unblemished  integrity 
on  which  all  who  knew  him  invariably  relied,  will  shine  forth 
unclouded. 

The  limits  of  this  discourse  have  confined  attention  chiefly  to 
those  views  of  this  sainted  brother,  which  exhibit  his  peculiari- 
ties, either  of  endowment,  or  position,  or  achievement.  What 
he  was  as  a son  and  brother,  but  more  especially  as  a husband 
and  a father,  has  been  alike  conspicuously  manifest  to  those 
relatives  who  have  passed  to  their  rest,  and  to  others  who  still 
smartingly  feel  their  bereavement  in  his  removal.  It  would 
have  been  both  a grateful  and  appropriate  portion  of  this  tribute 
to  transcendent  worth,  to  have  combined  some  distinct  memo- 
rial of  God’s  good  providence,  in  giving  to  him  such  conjugal 
companions  ! Widely  will  their  holy  and  lofty  virtue,  and 
their  feminine  sweetness,  diffuse  its  attractive  fragrance  ! It  is 
only  germain  to  the  present  exclusive  and  narrow  purpose  to 


THE  REV.  ADONIRAM  JUD90N,  D.T).  35 

say,  that  Dr.  Judson  fully  and  devoutly  appreaciaied,  as  well 
as  greatly  profited  by  their  excellences. 

The  prominent  purpose  of  this  commemoration  has  only  been 
to  glorify  God  in  His  servant.  Nor  was  this  design  less  notice- 
able in  the  termination  of  his  earthly  career,  than  in  any  of  its 
antecedent  scenes.  It  evinced  conspicuously  how  much  of 
severe  discipline  is  requisite,  even  for  some  of  God’s  most  dis- 
tinguished servants,  to  bring  them  to  entire  cordial  submission 
to  the  Divine  will;  and  it  also  served  to  withdraw  undue  re- 
gard from  the  mere  instrument,  that  God  may  be  all  in  all ! He 
had  not  then  expected  to  be  called  away.  To  him,  less  than  to 
those  around  him,  was  there  any  distinct  revealment  of  his  near- 
ness to  death.  When  the  almost  desperate  peril  of  bis  position 
was  suddenly  disclosed  to  him,  by  an  alarming  turn  in  his  dis- 
ease,* he  caught  at  the  intimation  of  possible  relief  Com  a sea- 
voyage.  The  impatience  of  his  spirit  was  now  sorely  tried  by 
the  announcement  that  some  two  weeks  would  elapse  before  any 
suitable  vessel  could  sail  from  the  port.  How  natural  that  his 
love  of  life,  for  its  important  uses,  should  lead  him  to  turn  his 
face  to  the  wall  and  weep.  Soon,  however,  he  regained  his 
wonted  composure,  and  from  a chastened  spirit  comes  forth  the 
cheerful  utterance,  “God’s  will  be  done  ! It  will  be  all  right!” 

Those  intervening  days — how  rapidly  do  they  waste  his  little 
remaining  strength,  on  the  recuperative  energy  of  which  so  much 
is  now  depending.  The  hour  of  sailing  at  length  arrives.  To 
others  the  case  seems  desperate,  the  proposed  remedy  futile. 
They  would  dissuade,  if  not  forbid  its  trial.  But  the  decision  of 
the  dying  man  was  never  firmer:  “Carry  me  on  board.”  Too 
well  you  know  the  rest : how,  in  six  days  from  land,  almost  in 
sight  of  the  receding  mountains  of  Burmah,  they  laid  down  that 
worn-out  frame  to  rest,  till  the  sea  shall  give  up  its  dead  ! 

We  would  not  forget  that  it  was  only  the  frame,  decayed  and 


See  Appendix  No.  2. 


36 


REV.  ADONIRAM  JUDSON,  D.D. 


unfit  either  for  use  or  enjoyment,  which  the  ocean  welcomed, 
Judson  is  not  there  ; but  long  ere  we  heard  of  his  decease,  his 
spirit  realized  what  Paul  meant  in  his  glorious  testimony,  that  to 
depart  and  be  with  Christ  is  far  better.  With  some  hundreds  of 
converted  Burmans,  who  had  died  in  faith  and  gone  up  on  high, 
he  has  been  welcomed  by  the  Saviour  whom  he  loved,  the  Master 
whom  he  served  so  well ! 


APPENDIX  NO.  I. 


Communications  from  Dr.  Judson  under  various  dates  show  the  intense 
interest  of  his  powerful  mind  in  this  great  work.  It  would  seem  that  no 
Christian — viewing  him,  escaped  from  the  gloom  and  damps  of  the  dungeon, 
having  buried  the  beloved  companion  of  his  bosom,  and  consecrated  his 
whole  property,  amounting  to  §10,000,  received  by  legacy  and  for  services 
rendered  at  the  close  of  the  Burmese  war,  to  the  missionary  cause — can  hear 
his  pungent  and  soul-stirring  reproofs  of  our  inactivity  and  delay,  without 
being  instantly  aroused  to  the  noblest  action. 

To  the  Rev.  James  Grow,  of  Thompson,  Conn.,  who  had  expressed  his 
interest  in  the  Burman  Mission,  and  remitted  a donation,  Dr.  Judson  thus 
writes,  under  date  of  Rangoon , March  4 th,  1831 : — 

“ I can  spare  time  to  write  a few  lines  only,  having  a constant  press  of  mis- 
sionary work  on  hand : add  to  which,  that  the  weather  is  dreadfully  oppres- 
sive at  this  season.  Poor  Boardman  has  just  died  under  it,  and  Mrs.  Wade 
is  nearly  dead.  Brother  Wade  and  I are  now  the  only  men  in  the  mission 
that  can  speak  and  write  the  language,  and  we  have  a population  of  above 
ten  millions  of  perishing  souls  before  us.  I am  persuaded  that  the  only  rea- 
son why  all  the  dear  friends  of  Jesus  in  America  do  not  come  forward  in  sup- 
port of  missions,  is  mere  want  of  information,  (such  information  as  they  would 
obtain  by  taking  any  of  the  periodical  publications.)  If  they  could  only  see 
and  know  half  what  I do,  they  would  give  all  their  property,  and  their 
persons  too. 

“The  great  annual  festival  is  just  past,  during  which  multitudes  come  from 
the  remotest  parts  of  the  country  to  worship  at  the  great  Shway  Dagong 
Pagoda  in  this  place,  where  it  is  believed  that  several  real  bail's  of  Gaudama 
are  enshrined.  During  this  festival  I have  given  away  nearly  10,000  tracts, 
giving  to  none  but  those  who  ask.  I presume  there  have  been  six  thousand 
applicants  at  the  house ! Some  come  two  or  three  months’  journey,  from  the 
borders  of  Siam  and  China:  ‘Sir,  we  hear  that  there  is  an  eternal  hell.  We 
are  afraid  of  it.  Do  give  us  a writing  that  will  tell  us  how  to  escape  it.’  Others 
come  from  the  frontiers  of  Cassay,  a hundred  miles  north  of  Ava : ‘ Sir,  we 
have  seen  a writing  that  tells  us  about  an  eternal  God.  Are  yon  the  man 
that  gives  away  such  writings  ? If  so,  pray  give  us  one,  for  we  want  to  know 


38 


APPENDIX. 


the  truth  before  we  die.’  Others  come  from  the  in  tenor  of  the  country, 
where  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  is  a little  known:  ‘Are  you  Jesus  Christ’s 
man?  Give  us  a writing  that  tells  about  Jesus  Chiist.’  Brother  Bennett 
works  day  and  night  at  the  press ; but  he  is  unable  to  supply  us ; for  the  call 
js  great  at  Maulmain  and  Tavoy,  as  well  as  here,  and  his  types  are  very  poor, 
and  he  has  no  efficient  help.  The  fact  is,  that  we  are  very  weak,  and  have  to 
complain  that  hitherto  we 'have  not  been  well  supported  from  home.  It  is 
most  distressing  to  find,  when  we  are  almost  worn  out,  and  are  sinking,  one 
after  another,  into  the  grave,  that  many  of  our  brethren  in  Christ  at  home 
are  just  as  hard  and  immovable  as  rocks ; just  as  cold  and  repulsive  as  the 
mountains  of  ice  in  the  polar  seas.  But  whatever  they  do,  we  cannot  sit  still 
and  see  the  dear  Burmans,  flesh  and  blood  like  ourselves,  and  like  ourselves 
possessed  of  immortal  souls,  that  will  shine  for  ever  in  heaven  or  burn  for  ever 
in  hell — we  cannot  see  them  go  down  to  perdition  without  doing  our  very 
utmost  to  save  them.  And  thanks  be  to  God,  our  labors  are  not  in  vain. 
We  have  three  lovely  churches,  and  about  two  hundred  baptized  converts, 
and  some  are  in  glory.  A spirit  of  religious  inquiry  is  extensively  spreading 
throughout  the  country,  and  the  signs  of  the  times  indicate  that  the  great 
renovation  of  Burrnah  is  drawing  near.  Oh,  if  we  had  about  twenty  more, 
versed  in  the  language,  and  means  to  spread  schools,  and  tracts,  and  Bibles, 
to  any  extent,  how  happy  I should  be ! But  those  rocks  and  those  icy  moun- 
tains have  crushed  us  down  for  many  years.  However,  I must  not  leave  my 
work  to  write  letters.  It  is  seldom  that  I write  a letter  home,  except  my 
journal,  and  that  I am  obliged  to  do,” 


APPENDIX  NO.  II. 


[Extract  of  a letter  to  the  author  from  Mr.  T.  S.  Ranney , while  still  on  board 
the  vessel  from  which  Dr.  Judson' s remains  had  been  buried.] 

At  sea,  June  2,  1850;  lat.  21°  S.,  long.  56°  E. 

My  dear  Brother  Babcock  : — I do  not  know  that  I can  better  employ  this 
my  ninth  Sabbath  at  sea,  than  by  penning  a few  words  for  your  perusal.  'Ihe 
death  of  our  lamented  brother  Judson,  the  particulars  of  which  you  will  meet 
with  in  the  Magazine,  will  fully  explain  to  you  why  I am  at  sea;  and  I wil 
only  here  say,  that  I left  homo  on  the  3d  of  April,  the  sole  companion  of 
Dr.  Judson,  in  a French  ship,  bound  to  the  Isle  of  France,  and  that  on  the 
12th  of  the  same  month  it  became  my  mournful  duty  to  see  committed  to 
the  deep  his  mortal  remains. 

It  has  not  been  my  lot  during  my  life  to  witness  many  deaths — never,  I 
believe,  more  than  three  or  four ; and  this  was  the  first  death  of  a Christian 
that  I ever  beheld. 

It  has  made  a deep,  and  I hope  a salutary  impression.  It  has  taught  me 
that  my  faith  is  too  inoperative.  I never  saw  the  day  that  I did  not  contem- 
plate death  as  an  unwelcome  visitor;  that  I did  not  fear  its  approach,  and, 
with  a kind  of  boastfulness  of  present  health  and  fair  prospects  ot  life,  banish 
death  away  down  into  the  years  of  futurity.  An  old  writer  of  the  sixteenth 
century  (Sir  Thomas  Browne)  says,  “For  a Pagan,  there  may  be  some  mo- 
tives to  be  in  love  with  life  ; but  for  a Christian  to  be  amazed  at  death,  I see  j 
not  how  he  can  escape  the  dilemma  that  he  is  too  sensible  of  this  life,  or 
hopeless  of  the  life  to  come.”  I confess  to  this  dilemma,  at  least  in  part,  if 
not  wholly.  Though  I am  not  without  hope  of  the  life  to  come,  yet  there  is 
too  much  of  infidelity  in  the  ingredients  of  that  hope;  be  the  metal -what  it 
may,  there  is  too  much  alloy  in  it.  Not  that  I disbelieve,  and  perhaps  not 
misbelieve,  but  that  the  anchor  Hope,  instead  of  being  held  by  a strong  chain, 
seems  to  have  but  a small  cord.  The  chain  and  the  anchor,  however,  are  of  no 
use  during  the  voyage,  but  all-important  *on  arriving  at  the  port;  then  the 
strength  of  the  chain  is  tested.  The  thing  is  to  know  that  the  cable  and  the 
anchor  are  in  their  place,  when  the  order  “Let  go!”  is  given.  In  this  I have 
some  encouragement.  It  may  be  that  my  anchor-chain  will  be  found  secure, 
and  that,  in  the  language  of  the  same  writer,  “ the  first  day  of  my  jubilee  will 
be  death.”  May  it  not  be,  however,  that  those  who  speak  so  confidently  of 
their  future  bliss,  and  readiness  to  embrace  death,  sometimes  mistake  the 
truth  ? The  expression  of  an  opinion  is  quite  a different  thing  from  the  expe- 
rience of  a truth ; and  happy  is  that  writer  or  preacher  who  can  always  stand 
firm  and  unshaken  on  that  foundation  which  he  urges  his  reader  or  hearer  to 
build  upon ! Like  the  physician,  he  is  confident  his  prescription  is  a certain 


40 


APPENDIX. 


remedy  for  others,  but,  himself  being  the  patient,  his  confidence  is  sometimes 
shaken.  Tn  death,  man  is  not  a relative  being.  He  is  isolated  from  all  man- 
kind. He  must  die  for  himself,  and  die  but  once ; and  so  happy  or  dreadful 
are  the  consequences  dependent  upon  the  issue,  that  I am  sure  nothing  short 
of  the  Great  Comforter  can  carry  the  soul  up  to  the  trial  without  blenching. 

Brother  Judson  had  reached  a climacteric  in  his  life — the  ninth  mul- 
tiple of  seven,  a critical  period— and  was  but  fourteen  years  older  than  I 
am.  He  began  to  be  considered  an  old  man.  This  is  startling  to  me.  It 
tells  me  I am  far  past  the  meridian,  and  a long  way  on  the  down-hill  of  life, 
and  that  the  burden  of  life’s  cares  hereafter  must  be  so  much  thrown  off  as 
may  enable  me  to  make  the  remainder  of  life’s  journey  with  an  eye  constantly 
fixed  on  heaven. 

Some  six  months  ago,  Dr.  Judson  and  I were  conversing  about  an  applica- 
tion which  had  been  made  for  rebuilding  each  of  our  dwellings,  which  arc 
contiguous,  his  because  of  the  alleged  unhealthfulness  of  its  position  and  con- 
struction, and  mine  because  of  its  decay.  I recollect  of  saying,  that  I was 
almost  sorry  that  the  application  had  been  made,  for  that  in  almost  every 
case,  when  a missionary  had  got  all  things  around  him  to  his  liking,  some- 
thing had  occurred  to  mar  or  take  away  his  anticipated  enjoyments.  “I  have 
thought  of  that,”  brother  Judson  replied,  “and  it  has  deterred  me  from  say- 
ing much  about  a new  house.  It  is  on  this  account  that  I have  left  the  mat- 
ter in  the  hands  of  the  brethren,  to  do  as  they  think  best  about  it.  ’ 

Brother  Judson,  up  to  within  three  or  four  days  of  his  death,  thought  he 
should  recover.  I do  not  think  he  had  been  willing  to  die.  We  all  thought 
1 his  case  critical  long  before  he  did,  and  urged  a sea-voyage*  but  ho  prefen ed 
to  wait,  saying  he  would  go  when  he  thought  there  was  danger.  There  was 
a sudden  change  for  the  worse  in  his  case,  which  alarmed  him,  when  he  sent 
for  me,  and  wanted  to  go  to  sea  immediately.  In  anticipation  of  this,  I had 
kept  myself  advised  of  the  vessels  in  port,  and  on  telling  him  that  no  ship 
would  leave  in  less  than  nine  days,  he  turned  away  his  face  and  wept ; but 
presently  replied,  “The  Lord’s  will  be  done;  it  will  be  all  right.”  His  own 
belief  that  he  should  recover  was  so  strong,  that  I suspect  Mrs.  Judson  felt 
something  of  a like  confidence ; and  the  message  which  I sent  to  her  by  the 
pilot  when  he  left  us  will  strengthen  her  in  the  belief.  Alas ! poor  woman, 
she  has  got  to  learn  the  truth,  that  in  one  short  week  after  she  saw  him  last, 
he  was  a corpse. 

But  at  length  his  language  changed,  and  death  was  longed  for  as  a friend 
and  deliverer.  I do  not  know  that  he  had  any  fear  of  death  at  any  period  of 
his  sickness;  but  he  felt  that  his  work  was  not  done,  and  he  hoped  that  he 
might  be  spared.  The  time  at  length  came  when  he  resigned  all.  He  was 
a great  sufferer.  He  had  an  agony  of  pain,  and  ho  felt  that  his  pain  was 
brought  upon  him  to  make  him  willing  to  die.  He  became  not  only  willing, 
but  anxious,  and  his  death  was  serene  and  tranquil. 


